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EU to exceed nitrogen oxides emission ceiling, mostly due to road transport
EU countries must meet legally binding limits for four air pollutants set by the National Emission Ceilings Directive (NEC Directive) to protect human health and the environment. The annual status report released today by the European Environment Agency (EEA) shows that while emissions for three air pollutants are projected to meet the ceilings, Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) emissions for the EU-27 as a whole will exceed its ceiling by 17 %.
The NEC Directive status report 2010 documents the most recent 2009 emissions and projection information for 2010 for the four pollutants covered by the directive: sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs) and ammonia (NH3). The pollutants covered by the report harm both human health and the environment by contributing to the formation of ground-level ozone and particulate matter and leading to acidification and eutrophication.
The road transport sector bears most of the blame for the anticipated exceedances, contributing to more than 40 % of total EU-27 NOx emissions in 2009.
Even taking into account NOx control measures already in place within the Member States, the NOx emissions for the EU-27 are still projected to be 6 % above the aggregated Member States limits (known as the Annex I ceilings) and 17 % above the stricter ceiling for the European Union as a whole (the Annex II ceiling) set for 2010.
Some Member States, such as the Netherlands and Slovenia, expect to exceed their respective NOx ceilings by only small margins (less than 5 %). In contrast, Germany and France expect to exceed their ceilings by 328 kilotonnes and 275 kilotonnes respectively - equivalent to exceedances of 31 % and 34 %. Austria, while expecting lower surpluses in absolute terms, anticipates exceeding its ceilings by an even larger margin (40 %).
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